pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: comfort


by 1 Comment

Comfort Zones

Reading: Acts 9: 10-20

Comfort is something we all like.  Life seems to be at its best when we are in our ‘comfort zone’.  We are there when we are surrounded with the familiar.  While this can vary greatly from one person to another – one person’s paradise may look very different from another’s – each of us craves routine and known.  We like patterns and to be in control.  So when God asks us to step outside of our comfort zones, our minds naturally go to excuses.

Such was the case with Ananias in Damascus.  Life seems to be sailing along and his faith appears to be solid.  This resonates with us – when life and faith are good, all is well.  Then out of the blue, at least for Ananias, God asks him to go and see Saul.  Immediately the reports of Saul persecuting and killing Christians floods Ananias’ mind.  It is the ‘but’ we often come up with too when God is asking us to step out of our comfort zones.

Ananias is comfortable enough in his relationship with God to question this nudge.  And God is comfortable enough with Ananias to repeat the instruction, this time with a little more detail.  So he obeys and makes his way to Straight Street.  It was probably a slow and hard walk filled with questions, doubts, and fear.  But Ananias was faithful and was blessed to heal Saul’s vision and to baptize him into Jesus Christ.

God wants to work in and through our lives as well.  Just as Ananias did, we too are called to step out of our comfort zones and to trust in God.  At times we all feel this nudge, the Spirit’s leading.  If we are willing to lay aside out ‘but’ and to walk alongside God, we too will be blessed, maybe even experiencing the miracle of God working in another person’s life.  May we step outside of our comfort zones when called so that through us, God can bless another today.


by Leave a comment

Let Us Rejoice

Reading: Psalm 118: 1-2 & 19-29

The Psalm opens with a timeless line: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever”.  These three truths form some of the bedrock of our faith.  If one took the time, we could each list the many ways that we have personally experienced each of these truths in our lives.  As we grow in our faith, we come to appreciate each of these truths more and more.

The relationship we have with God is the overarching relationship in our life.  He actively seeks to guide and protect us, to bless us, and to bring us joy.  God desires to answer our prayers, to bring us success, and to receive our praise.  He is our strength in times of doubt, our courage in times of fear, our comforter in times of suffering, and our light in times of darkness.  Our relationship with God is the relationship which we should model all of our other relationships after.

For our part, we offer God our thanksgiving and praise for all He brings to the relationship.  Our grateful response is to seek to bring others into this relationship as well.  Jesus commanded all of His followers to go forth to make new disciples.  Jesus set the example for what our relationships with God and fellow man should look like and then said to go and do likewise, to love others as He first loved us.  We do this by being love, goodness, strength, courage, comfort, and light to those in our lives.

The psalmist also wrote, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”.  As we seek to emulate Christ and to bring Him to the corners of our world, we too will be blessed.  As we share the light and love of Christ with others, we too will be blessed.  Verse 24 reads, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it”.  Each day is a day the Lord has made.  May we go out daily into our world rejoicing in all He has done for us, drawing others into our joy and praise, into His love and hope.


by Leave a comment

Seek the Lord

The psalmist speaks of times when our enemies rise up against us and when we feel besieged on every side.  In this life, there are certainly times when these things are true.  But our greater truth is God’s constant presence amidst all of life.  It is in His presence that we find love, peace, comfort, and mercy.

Sometimes we feel besieged by things from the outside.  It may be a situation at work that is not going so well.  It may be a conflict with a spouse or a child or a friend that is bringing discomfort in your life.  It may be a health or financial stress that has suddenly risen up.  As this “thing” consumes more and more of our time, we can seem to drift away from God.  But what we really need most is to spend more time in His presence.

At other times our struggle comes from within.  A temptation or sin can get ahold of us and that is all we can seem to see.  It could be pride or being judgemental.  It could be greed or jealousy.  It could be lust or coveting.  It could be any number of sins.  But one of these can become our focus so easily and we find ourselves far from God.  Sometimes this is because we are struggling to break free and other times it is because we have broken free but feel to guilty or dirty to come into His presence.  In these cases too, in that loving, caring, merciful, forgiving presence is precisely where we need to be.

When we are in one of these trials of life – whether from the outside or inside – we must seek God.  For some, maybe that is to physically go into the sanctuary or chapel to be in His presence.  For some it is to go to their prayer space at home.  For some it is driving in the car or walking along a path in the woods. God is everywhere do we can find Him anywhere.  He simply waits for us to reach out, to seek Him, to reconnect to Him.  In our trials, may we eagerly run into His presence and receive respite and relief.  In His presence we begin to live into His love, peace, comfort, and mercy.

Scripture reference: Psalm 27: 5-14


by Leave a comment

His Love Never Fails

God’s love never fails. While it is true that tongues will become still and knowledge will pass away, God’s love will always remain.  Paul ends this chapter in his letter to the Corinthians with the reminder that faith, hope, and love remain with us, but that the greatest of these is love.  It is knowing how deep and wide God’s love is that allows us to hold onto our faith and to keep hope even in our hardest trials.

Since the moment we were formed, God’s love surrounds us.  His love continues to be with us daily, giving us comfort, strength, and protection.   We see His love surrounding many in the Bible.  A few examples are when He guided the people through the sea as He protected them from the Egyptians; when He kept David safe as Saul pursued him; when He comforted Jesus in the wilderness; and when He gave Stephen strength in his time of persecution and stoning.  And these are just a few examples.

Paul also writes of setting aside childish ways and becoming mature in our faith.  This is what we continually do on our journey of faith.  As we grow in our faith, we learn to trust in God a little longer, to hold onto our hope a little tighter, and to rely on His love a little more.  It is a process though.  We are never suddenly right where we want to be in a growth process.  It takes time.  We experience a setback here and there.  But we must keep going forward and striving to grow in faith, hope, and love.

God’s love never fails.  May we ever keep this locked in our hearts and written on our minds as we continue on this journey of faith.  Blessings!

Scripture reference: 1 Corinthians 13: 8-13


by Leave a comment

He Is So Close

The voice of God speaks out in nature.  It roars in the thunder and whispers in the gentle breeze.  It reveals silent beauty in the sunset and lifts the heart with the song of the bird.  God has also continued to be revealed through science.  As technology has allowed us to peer further and further into space we come to better understand God’s immeasurable nature.  And as that same technology has allowed us to deeper and deeper into living organisms, we come to better understand God’s complexity and the fine detail of His work.

In spite of how big and intricate and vast and mind-boggling God is, He is also a God who seeks to know each of us personally.  He desires an intimate and deep relationship with each of us.  This relational God is best revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.  As God came and dwelt among us as the incarnate Jesus, we came to know Him personally.  In His relationship with man, Jesus revealed God as love.  This love was lived out through things such as hope, peace, comfort, forgiveness, mercy, service.  Jesus patterned what a life lived as love should look like.  It was shown in how He interacted and treated everyone that He encountered.

Through Jesus our God is so close we can rest in His presence when needed.  He is so close we can hear the Spirit whisper into our life.  He is so close we can come with our questions, joys, concerns, fears, doubts, praise, and thanksgiving.  The God of all creation, in His vastness and complexity, is still our comforter, our guide, our companion, and our friend.  For this I say, thanks be to God!

Scripture reference: Psalm 104: 1-9


by Leave a comment

In Community

Loss can be hard to bear.  David pours out his heart ad h grieves for Saul and Jonathan.  Even though Saul had been difficult and at times antagonistic, David still offers up his grief over Sail’s death.  David was very close to Jonathan, Saul’s son, and yet in this eulogy it sounds as if he loved them equally.  In this sense it is a fairly common eulogy: it focuses on the positives of the deceased.

In our culture today the time immediately after the death seems to be the “acceptable” time to mourn.  Once the funeral is over society gives the impression that it is time to move on.  When sadness creeps back upon us at random times or because something reminded us of our loved one, we seek to find a private place so that we avoid the awkward or uncomfortable created by our sudden outpouring of emotions.

This is just the opposite of what it should be.  God created us for community.  In today’s writing from 2nd Samuel, David creates a shared way for the people to mourn.  He acknowledges the sense of community that God calls us to so that we may find the strength and support we need.  He calls us to be open and honest with our grief so that the healing process can lead us to a better place emotionally and spiritually.   David names and admits his grief and sorrow.  In doing so he offers others and us the permission to be open and honest with our emotions.  In community we can find strength and support.  There we offer it as well.

Scripture reference: 2 Samuel 1:1and 17-27


by Leave a comment

Trust in His Presence

David’s lament pays tribute to the slain Saul and David.  He remembers them for their bravery and valor in battle.  He recalls their love for country and the grace they offered.  He puts word to the grief he feels over the loss of King and dear friend.

When someone close to us dies, we also do a similar thing.  When we gather for the wake or visitation we share pictures and other items that remind us of the one who has gone on.  We share our stories of time spent with our loved one or dear friend.  At the funeral we hear stories or memories shared by the pastor and often by those giving eulogies as a part of the service.  In these good and happy memories we release and relieve some of our grief.

In this text for today we see David’s trust and faith in God as well.  We too hold onto the same faith and trust in God.  He both welcomes our grief and extends His arms of comfort and love to each of us in our time of need.  We trust His presence in our time of need.

Scripture reference: 2 Samuel 1:1 and 17-27


by Leave a comment

Hard to Wait

Our God is an everlasting God.  All that was and is and ever will be is in His hands.  God is the sole creator of all that has life.  He loves all of His creation with a love so big it is unfathomable.

At times we can feel lost and insignificant.  At times we can feel like God is distant.  At times life can be hard and we can question why something is happening or wonder where God is in the midst of a struggle we are having.

When we find ourself here, it is hard to wait for God.  In the tension and uneasiness we want God to fly in and fix it all instantly.  But sometimes we do have to wait.  Waiting for God to act is hard.

Back in Isaiah 40 we hear these words: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak…. those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”  In the midst of it, hold onto this hope.  In the midst, be faithful.  Read His word, meditate upon it, go to Him in prayer, seek His presence.  Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you.

It is hard to wait.  It is hard.  But we must trust in God and in His plan.  He is faithful and He loves all of His creation.  All of us.  Wait in the Lord, rest upon this hope, soak Him up, and He will strengthen you.

Scripture reference: Isaiah 40: 21-31


by Leave a comment

Opportunities

After a long time of exile in Babylon, Israel returns to the promised land.  As the period of slavery ends, they return to a land that hand been laid to waste.  Free yes, but coming home to ruins.  Yet free always trumps slave.

Isaiah spoke into this situation with words of hope, with words of a brighter future, with words to restore the people.  But for the people, the prophecies seemed to eventually just become words.  Cities were still in ruins, life was still really hard.

Hundreds of years later Jesus comes along, reads from the scroll of Isaiah, and announces that the prophecy is no fulfilled.  Jesus did indeed preach the good news, heal the broken, bring life to the dead, share comfort with the suffering, and lead people from darkness.  He continues to bring all of these things to our world – just now it is through people like you and me, through his disciples.

In this holy season of Advent there are plenty of opportunities to share the Good News, to help others in need, to bring comfort and peace.  If we seek places and ways to bring Christ into this Christmas season, God is faithful and He will provide ways for us to be the hands and feet of Christ in our world.  Keep awake and alert.  Be prepared and willing.  With open eyes and loving hearts, be who we are called to be for our broken and needy world.

Scripture reference: Isaiah 61: 1-4


by Leave a comment

Created and Called

As a church or community of faith, what does it means when Paul calls us to “aim for perfection”?  Does that means that the worship and message on Sunday will be flawless?  Does that mean that the church will be beautifully decorated and that the coffee and cookies will be fantastic?  Or does it mean that the church will be a loving and welcoming place that feels like home?  Or is all this and more?  The target is indeed high but we are created in His image.

Paul also calls us to be of one mind and to live in peace.  All families disagree at times and have fights at others, right?  While true, it is not what we are aiming for.  It sounds like quite a challenge!  Yet each body of faith must be of one mind in terms of their purpose for being and in their mission in the world.  On a basic level, each and every Christian is called to ‘make disciples of all nations’.  Each and every church also has its own unique purpose and mission in the community in which it exists.  While each body of faith’s ‘work’ may look different from church to church – here the purpose and mission are also basically the same – to be Jesus’ hands and feet.

“To live in peace with one another”.  Begin with respect and an open mind and loving heart tuned to other’s needs above your own.  Our former and current ‘saints’ have much wisdom, experience, and insights to offer.  Seek them out, include them in the church.  Our ‘new’ friends to the faith are in need of love and encouragement.  Draw them in and give them all you have to offer.

Paul concludes 2 Corinthians 13 by reminding us that the God of love and peace will be with us.  This is a great comfort and reassurance because we all could use a little more love and peace.  We are created in His image and called to be like Him.